Broken Road
by Imaginationqueen87
Summary: Yelena has bounced from foster home to foster home since she was five years old. What happens when she is thrown to and claimed by werewolves? Will she finally find the love she craves even if she doesn't know she wants it?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Alpha and Omega series

 **Broken Road**

Yelena looked out the window of the social worker's sedan as they drove to her new foster home. She had quit trying to keep up with how many foster homes she went through (she had been through about 6 in 7 years), she had also quit trying to get to know anyone as making friends only lead to heartbreak.

She missed her parents. They had been of a modest income but they had been great people. They had been invited to a party by some of her father's coworkers. The party had been for adults only, so she had stayed home with a babysitter. It had been around two thirty in the morning when her babysitter had realized something was wrong and called the police. That was when her 5 year old world came crashing down.

Their car had been discovered mangled by a hit and run driver. Both of her parents had died on impact. It was learned when they finally tracked down the vehicle half an hour later that the driver was extremely intoxicated. The driver went to jail her parents were laid to rest and she was put in foster care as she had no living relatives left to take her.

Nicolette and Samuel Cornick were the names of her new foster parents. That was the most she gave them was the fact that she would learn their names from that she kept them at a distance.

~*~

Samuel was pacing when the sound of the car arriving caught their attention.

"Samuel, calm down." Nicolette said before she answered the door for the social worker.

"Mrs. Cornick," the woman addressed.

"Yes…" Nicolette didn't like the rigid way this woman held herself. No wonder Yelena was troubled if the people that were managing her care were so frigid.

"Yelena Salazar, she is twelve years old."

A small Hispanic girl joined them. Her fine bone structure and baby face sprinkled with the ghost of several freckles made her look adorable but her expression was striking in its sheer blankness. Her espresso colored eyes showed that there was more under the surface than she wanted them to see but her carefully schooled expression showed nothing outwardly, if anything she looked tired and bored.

"Welcome," Nicolette gave her a warm smile and invited her in.

The social worker gave a curt goodbye and left.

"Yeah, don't expect much from her" Yelena said biting back the part of her that would have called her social worker a bitch.

Yelena was wearing a pair of threadbare blue jeans that didn't fit right and a well worn sweatshirt with a strange cartoon bunny in a straight jacket that read "Cute but psycho, evens the score" along with a pair of canvas sneakers that had at one point been white but now were a dingy grey color. This was unacceptable and Samuel could barely contain his growl she deserved better she deserved clothes that looked decent and fit her properly.

"Welcome" he smiled. He was used to blank expressions from his brother but not someone so young. He could smell an injury on her but he didn't say anything, he would give her time to unpack and rest before teaching her about the werewolves of this town.

They showed her to her room and Samuel called his father to let him know she was there and tell him what was going on.

"How is she?" Bran asked.

"Its bad, da… it's like she has completely shut down." Samuel replied sadly. "Then again, if what she has to wear is anything to go by, I don't blame her. She's been in the system since she was five and she lost her parents just in the blink of an eye. It hurts my heart to even think how badly she is hurting."

"Me too, son, what happened to them was senseless. How hard is it to get someone to drive you home when you're drunk?" Bran replied.

"I don't know, da, it seems like people think they are the exception to the rule that they can drive well while drunk then they end up killing someone."

~*~

Yelena really didn't unpack much, just the bare essentials. She never did anymore as she always anticipated having to pack right back up just as she got the room just the way she wanted it. She looked in the bathroom and noticed they had period pads in there that were labeled for teenagers. She hadn't started for the first time yet but it was comforting to know they were there if she needed them.

Samuel and Nicolette were great people. The thought that they, and a lot of the population of this tiny town, were werewolves had scared her at first but she adapted well to it in time.

School was something Yelena did because she had to, but that didn't mean she didn't apply herself to her classwork, she did and made good grades. She just kept to herself and tried to skate under the radar as she moved through her day.

Samuel was shocked to learn Yelena was very gifted in math to the point that the math of her grade level was too easy and left her bored.

It was a Thursday and Yelena had found the math particularly boring. They were supposed to go over the page together then do a packet on their own but she had already finished the page after the teacher had gone over question one.

"Yelena you realize we were supposed to go over all of the questions together."

"You were going too slow. This stuff is easy." She said disinterestedly.

The teacher, Mr. Davis, picked up the paper and looked it over expecting all, or at least the majority of the answers to be wrong, but they were right.

"I'm shocked… you got them right." He said in genuine surprise setting the paper down.

"Like I said, easy," she shrugged. "Math has always been super easy for me."

She pulled out a book to read as the teacher went over the rest of the questions with the class. He then stopped and put a packet on Yelena's desk.

"This was the assignment for everyone to do on their own… go ahead and get a head start.

She sighed, put her book away and started the new assignment. She liked math so it didn't bother her too bad to do it was just the book was just getting good.

That evening Samuel was surprised when Kevin Davis called him.

"Mr. Cornick, I'm calling about Yelena Salazar, I'm talking with the principal about giving her a test to see if she might be able to handle moving up a grade in math. She seems so bored in my class, like at this level I can't teach her anything she doesn't already know or can't quickly figure out in a few minutes.

"That sounds like it might be a good idea, if she isn't being challenged she's probably bored."

"She is"

~*~

Yelena sighed, this was pointless, she wouldn't be here long, she never was. They would find some reason to get rid of her, they always did.

She humored them, took their test and passed. Her schedule was then altered to move her up a grade in math as if she had already completed seventh grade math and was currently in eight grade for that subject and in that move she found a fun challenge for the first time.

Samuel had noticed she often smelled as if she had an open cut or scrape. He never asked questions about it as he didn't want her to feel that she wasn't entitled to her privacy. She appreciated that from them but that didn't mean they got past her defenses, those were iron clad.

"I wish she would let us in." Nicolette sighed sipping her tea that night. "She's been here for 2 months."

Samuel squeezes his mate's hand he knew she had hoped to have some kind of bond with Yelena by this point but with Yelena's history it wasn't going to be that easy.

"I know, but we just need to give her time, she'll open up in her own time." Samuel assured her.

"I hope you're right."

 **To Be Continued…**


	2. chapter 2

**PoV Samuel**

I knew Nikki wished Yelena would open up and let us in to help her heal from her parents' deaths but it seemed she had come to a point where she had just been hurt too many times by doing that. I was ready to sit and wait for her to realize we were different. I'm patient, I know when to wait for my prey to come to me. Nikki has yet to learn that, but she will learn in time.

I was stunned to learn that Yelena was gifted in math. I had figured she would barely give a token effort at school as I was certain this was nowhere near the situation she wanted to be in. I had been wrong, she gave school her best and made really good grades.

I pressed for more information on her history but there wasn't much to learn and that irritated me. It was as if the state of Montana or at least her social worker had, at this point, stopped caring about her and it became even more obvious to me why she would close herself off from bonding with anyone. That was when I filed a complaint with her supervisor that Yelena was being neglected by the woman that was supposed to advocate for her welfare.

We continued trying to show her with our actions that we cared about her, that we wanted her. It helped a little bit but she still wouldn't open herself up to us.

"Yelena… why won't you unpack? Wouldn't it be easier to put your clothes in the dresser?" Nikki asked her.

"Then I'd have to pack them all up when you get tired of me like all the rest and ship me off to God-knows-where." She snapped back at her.

I was taken aback momentarily by the heat in that statement. She genuinely believed we would do that to her, but with so many that had already done just that, it was understandable.

"What if I said we wouldn't do that to you."

"They all say that until they do it." She replied.

We didn't have a comeback for that one because for all we. knew she was right they probably all promised her that but Nikki meant it and so did I. From the moment she had stepped into my home she was mine and I would never turn my back on one I considered mine.

I was beginning to really love Yelena. She needed love so much, I knew she had to be hurting but to what extent I couldn't begin to comprehend at the time.

One afternoon almost nine months after we took her in they were preparing for standardized testing and I could see the stress on Yelena's face. I assured her she would do fine but she was still stressed. They had arranged it so she had already passed the exam she was supposed to take in math for her grade so she was taking the test for the math grade she was actually attending not the one she was supposed to.

~*~

The night before the English portion, which I knew was always the hardest for her I found she had locked herself in the bathroom. The smell of fresh blood made me worried. It wasn't what I had associated with when Nikki had her period which was old blood.

I knocked on the door. She didn't answer so I tried to open the it to check on her. Charles had said something seemed off about her I didn't want it to be true but his instincts were unfortunately never wrong.

I pushed it open and gasped in horror. She had a razor blade and was in the process of cutting her left forearm. A lot began to make sense and I felt sick. How had I, of all people, missed this? Why had I dismissed all the times I smelled fresh wounds on her? Charles knew something dark was going on with her and he saw her once a week maximum. I see her every day and I missed it. Never in my long life had I felt so stupid.

I grabbed her arm with one hand and the hand holding the blade in the other. Then pulled the bloody blade from grip, loosened by shock and placed it on the counter.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?" I asked… or more like demanded but I was in shock and more than a little furious with myself for not seeing this sooner.

"You don't care… nobody ever does!" she barked in anger and my heart broke for her. It hurt my heart to hear that someone so young was so convinced that nobody cared about her but after what she had been through it shouldn't have been so shocking.

"Yes, Yelena, I do care, from the moment I agreed to open my home to you I cared about you and…" I embraced her tightly, bleeding cuts be damned she needed me to show her I do care "… and the longer you're here the more I love you."

Those three little words must have been something she hadn't heard in too long because the moment they escaped my lips she broke into uncontrollable sobs her façade of anger falling away to reveal her truth to reveal the hurting child underneath all the rage.

I heard the sound of gloves pop as Nikki went into full paramedic mode to treat the cuts we had only now found much to our humiliation as medical professionals and werewolves. I was baffled as to why none of us even considered she might have been self injuring, but she was twelve, self harm was something none of us associated with preteen children, then again normal preteens didn't see the foster care hell she had.

"I wish that… that was true… I want it more than you know but… but nobody loves me…" she sobbed.

"Yes we do, _mi hija_!" Nikki said. I sometimes forget Nikki speaks Spanish even though she, Asil and Charles often use it to pass secrets around town.

"¿ _Por qué lo hizo?_ " (Why did he do it?) she demanded in reference to the man that killed her parents. I didn't understand but Nikki did.

" _No sé, cariña, no sé_ "(I don't know, sweetheart, I don't know)

Nikki translated through the mate bond for me and I realized there was so much we still needed to learn from her, but this was a step to finally getting her to trust and open up to us.

To Be continued…


	3. chapter 3

Bran was horrified when he learned that Yelena was self injuring. He didn't understand why she felt that this was a solution to anything but the more he looked into why people do what she was doing the more he understood why it devolved to that for her.

Her caseworker's supervisor had been mortified when he learned that the fact that Yelena was self injuring had gone under the radar for so long. Samuel was unsurprised when he got word that a new caseworker was coming to check up on them as Yelena's original one had been terminated for her negligence in the case.

Her new social worker was a full figured blonde with a kind face and a motherly personality.

She arrived midafternoon wearing a salmon colored sweater and slacks. Hazel eyes took the scene in through large framed fashion glasses that were both functional and looked good on her.

"I'm Penelope Garcia."

"Samuel Cornick… what brings you here."

"I felt that Yelena needed an urgent check in since it seems my predecessor didn't check in with her at all." She sighed in frustration.

"No… and we needed to talk with her too but it was like she didn't care enough to even answer the phone and we even left messages." Samuel sighed as they sat in the living room.

"So you reported that she has been self injuring and… you think this behavior has gone on for months." Penelope seemed to be trying to hide her feelings but she was failing spectacularly as Samuel could smell her anger from across the room.

"This could have been going on for up to a year or longer. I'm not sure and I can't even hazard a guess as to why she started cutting."

"These children go through hell, I'll be the first to admit our system is broken. God knows what she's been through since she came into the system."

Yelena came in.

"When do I need to be packed by?" she asked monotonously.

"No need to pack, sweetie, I'm just checking on how you're doing." Penelope replied warmly "I'm Penelope Garcia… I was assigned your case after the level of neglect you received from your former case worker came to light and she was terminated."

Penelope stood and walked over to Yelena.

"You can unpack… I'm not in the habit of reshuffling my charges every few months." She assured her holding the younger girl's hands in her own .

"I…"

Samuel watched as Penelope started asking Yelena questions and Yelena answered them in a way she only ever did Anna. This led Samuel to wonder if Penelope would be an omega if she became a werewolf. Really he was a poor judge of that, he had initially thought Thomas "Tommy" Oliver, the golden gate alpha was an omega but he wasn't… granted he easily could have been. He would have to see what his da, Charles or Asil thought of her.

She took pictures of the cuts/scars and told them she had set up for a counselor to come talk with Yelena then left. It was comforting to learn that despite what they had learned Penelope was going to leave Yelena with them.

Two more weeks and 4 counseling sessions it seemed like they were making progress. She hadn't completely stopped self injuring but she wasn't doing it nearly as frequently. Then one Saturday almost two months into her therapy Samuel was shocked to find the blade she had used to self injure for so long laying abandoned in the garbage.

"Yelena…"

"I…I don't need it anymore" she said shyly "when I get upset… when I feel like I need to cut I… I just think of a song and… and it helps."

"Would you like to learn to play music?"

She nodded mutely.

~*~

The next day Nicolette and Yelena went into Missoula for a shopping trip to pick her up a guitar among other things they needed for the house.

Yelena soon found herself separated from Nicolette. She was terrified as one of her former foster families lived nearby and what she knew about them threatened their very way of life.

She was shocked when a strong hand pulled her deep into the alleyway and she was pinned to the wall by her throat.

"How dare you show your face around here you little bitch." he growled "I told you if I ever saw you again you would die… I can't have you telling about the pictures we made… the videos we made."

She tried to cry out for help but she couldn't draw air and her vision was growing dim as the lack of oxygen set in. She was praying that even if she died this person wouldn't get away with his crimes when suddenly the pressure was released and she collapsed to the ground, gasping and coughing as her lungs were suddenly filled with oxygen.

Her brain was too foggy to understand or recognize the deep baritone voice of her savior as belonging to her foster father's younger brother, Charles.

Police and paramedics arrived moments later.

"Why would he attack her?" Charles wondered as the medics tried to examine Yelena who became combative in her semi-conscious state as she didn't understand they were here to help her.

"He is wanted for several charges of creating and distributing child pornography. I think she is among the children that made the accusations." Detective Andrew Benson replied.

The medics ended up sedating her to finish the exam and had to secure the high flow oxygen cannula after she pulled it off.

"Do you know her?"

"My brother is her foster father" Charles replied.

"How can we get in touch with your brother?" the medic asked as they loaded her into an ambulance.

"He is a doctor in the Emergency Department at Providence St Patrick Hospital." Charles replied.

"Okay… what is his name so we can radio in to have his supervisor warn him we're on the way the with her?"

"Samuel Cornick"

~*~

Samuel was horrified to hear that his foster daughter had been attacked and nearly strangled to death.

"Samuel… I need you to clock out for a while… right now you need to focus more on being a father and less on being a doctor." His supervisor, Doctor Donald Mallard said firmly.

Dr. Mallard was one of those men that even at 85 was fully capable of handling the stress of a shift in the Emergency Department. The big thing was he neither looked nor acted like a man in his eighties was expected to look/act. When Samuel had first met Donald he would have sworn up and down he was perhaps in his late fifties not his eighties.

"Son… you have had Yelena for almost an entire year… what are your plans for her didn't you say her birthday was drawing near?"

"Yes… she's turning thirteen."

"Ah… stepping from childhood to the terrible teen years. Good luck with that my son."

Dr. Mallard regularly referred to him in terms one would a younger man despite the fact that Samuel was centuries older than he was. He didn't know so Samuel accepted the affectionate nomenclature.

"I have plans for that."

Meanwhile Yelena was wheeled in and the parental consent forms were brought to Samuel for signatures before further treatment was administered.

To be continued…


End file.
